UK brewer will make Samuel Adams beers

Brewers Guardian reports that a draft version of the beer could be available to Britain’s on-trade as early as mid-April. Boston Beer and Shepherd Neame have a long-standing commercial relationship, as Shepherd Neame has acted as Boston Beer’s importer for more than a decade.

Jim Koch, Boston Beer’s founder and chairman, told Brewers’ Guardian, “The volume has grown steadily in the UK and Europe. There was a point where we thought that it would make sense to brew it in Kent.”

The breweries have spent almost a year working on the project. Of course, when Koch started Boston Beer most of its beer in the United State was brewed under contract, unlike now.

The Samuel Adams recipe will be recreated exactly at Shepherd Neame, the oldest operating brewery in England. The yeast strain is Boston Beer’s own; the hop varieties Hallertau Mittelfrueh and Tettnang Tettnanger will continue to be purchased from Bavarian growers and pelletized by Boston Beer’s proprietary process before being shipped to England.

Shepherd Neame has made some minor modifications to allow it to follow the Samuel Adams brewing process. “There are some unusual steps in it, like a decoction mash, like kraüsening, like dry hopping,” Koch told Brewers’ Guardian. “We have to bring those things along with the beer or else it’s not Boston Lager.”